Have your ankles ever felt sore, swollen or tight? You were probably dealing with ankle stiffness. Stiffness in your ankles isn’t actually an injury itself, it’s a symptom of a larger issue. Today, we talk about some conditions that could be causing your ankle stiffness, and how to treat the problem.
What’s Causing My Ankle Stiffness?
Many people say their ankles feel stiff after a long walk or run, but a lot of other activities can cause ankle stiffness. Those activities include:
- Repetitive irritation
- Overuse
- Sports and exercise
- Work activities
- Related foot injury
Ankle Stiffness and Arthritis
As we mentioned above, one of the more common causes of ankle stiffness is a related foot injury. These can be acute injuries, or problems that develop over time. The most common cause of ankle stiffness is ankle arthritis.
Ankle arthritis occurs when inflammation develops in your joints, and since the foot and ankle are riddled with more than 30 joints, the foot is a common place for arthritis to set in. Unfortunately, there is no cure for ankle arthritis, but there are some things you can do to manage your symptoms and prevent the condition from getting worse. Here are some treatments for ankle arthritis:
- Regular exercise
- Range of motion exercises
- Proper shoe wear
- Weight loss
- Switching from high impact activities like running or soccer to low-impact activities like cycling or swimming.
- Anti-inflammatory medications
- Assistive devices like a walking boot or custom orthotics.
Surgical Intervention
Surgical intervention is typically the last step in treatment, and like we mentioned above, their is no cure for ankle arthritis, but surgery can help alleviate some pain and discomfort in your ankle. Here are some surgical options for ankle arthritis and stiffness.
- Ankle debridement – This procedure involves removing loose cartilage, inflamed tissue and bone spurs from around the ankle joint.
- Ankle fusion – Ankle fusion, as the name implies, involves fusing the bones of the joint, making one continuous bone out of two or more bones. The procedure is done to eliminate motion in the affected joint.
- Ankle replacement – This procedure alleviates arthritis pain and gives patients more mobility and movement than ankle fusion. This operation is reserved for people with severe ankle arthritis.
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